Metered Access

Crain's Detroit Business is a metered site. Print and digital subscribers have unlimited access to stories, but registered users are limited to eight stories every 30 days. After viewing three metered stories, you'll be asked to register or log in. After eight more stories in 30 days, you'll be asked to subscribe.

MICHIGAN BRIEFS: Albion students stay on track after Marshall merger

Last spring, the Albion Public Schools Board of Education closed the district's high school because of budget troubles and, starting this school year, sent its ninth- through 12th-graders to nearby Marshall High School. So how's the consolidation going? The Battle Creek Enquirer took a look.

On one hand, the rate of punished students has risen, although Albion students aren't getting into any more trouble than when they were in their own high school. Albion students' overall grade-point average dropped from 2.61 at the end of the last school year in Albion to 2.52 at the end of the first semester in Marshall. But Albion awarded extra points for an A-plus, while Marshall does not.

Of particular concern of Albion residents: Mostly black, low-income Albion combined with almost all-white, middle-class Marshall and how their students would be treated in the new environment. One of the biggest critics of the merger, Albion City Councilman Maurice Barnes, now says he is "just shocked and amazed" at the atmosphere at the school, adding that after seeing the students interact, "I had to say, 'Maurice, you need to get yourself out of the way.' "

Rich DeVos memoir: Co-founder of Amway shares family stories

MLive.com notes that Rich DeVos, one of the co-founders of Ada-based Amway Corp., has a memoir on bookshelves (you remember those, right?) and online. Simply Rich: Life and Lessons From the Cofounder of Amway debuted last week.

Dick and Doug DeVos, sons of the author, told MLive that their favorite story in the book involves their father and his best friend and Amway's other co-founder, Jay Van Andel, and the time they tried to sail around South America, only to have their boat capsize. Which suggests that even someone worth an estimated $6.9 billion can't buy immunity from his children's abuse.

Another story in the book: Rich DeVos giving a pep talk to grandson Rick DeVos, best known for founding ArtPrize, after he complained that his high school friends were teasing him about the DeVos name being on too many buildings. To which the grandfather observed: "I would treat it, Rick, as a blessing that you are in a family of people who do things that are worthy of being talked about." Kids.

Bell's retains its spot among nation's biggest craft brewers

Comstock-based Bell's Brewery Inc. remains the No. 7 craft brewer in the United States when measured by production. It also was ranked 13th for overall brewing, moving up one spot from 2013.

The Colorado-based Brewers Association, a trade association that represents small and independent American craft brewers, last week released its annual list of the top 50 craft and overall brewing companies in the United States.

Grand Rapids-based Founders Brewing Co. was the only other Michigan brewery to make the list, rising four spots on the craft brewing list to 26th place.

Small village faces prospect of losing insurance coverage

The Saginaw County village of Oakley faces losing its insurance coverage over issues that include lawsuits against city officials and the police chief. Oakley's insurance provider, the Michigan Municipal League, plans to drop the policy for the village of 300 when it expires July 1, The Saginaw News reported.

The Municipal League said the decision is based in part on the frequency of claims and what it called a lack of cooperation and commitment with risk management efforts.

Mich-cellaneous

• Shares of Battle Creek-based Kellogg Co., maker of breakfast cereals and other packaged food, rose 6 percent Thursday, the most in almost five years. The options trading signaled activity similar to what happened right before Berkshire Hathaway Inc. bought HJ Heinz Co. last year, said Christopher Rich, head options strategist at JonesTrading Institutional Services LLC in Chicago.

• Wyoming-based Gordon Food Service Inc. said it has acquired Houston-based Glazier Foods Co., a food service distributor, MiBiz reported. The acquisition would mark Gordon Food's first foray into Texas. Terms were not disclosed.

• Kettering University in Flint has the best return on investment among Michigan colleges and ranks 41st nationally, according to annual rankings compiled by Payscale.com. Rankings are based on total cost and the earning potential of alumni.

• This is as close as Michigan gets to the Final Four this year: The floor being used for the games was put together in the Upper Peninsula town of Amasa in a plant owned by Salt Lake City-based Connor Sport Court International. It takes at least 30 trees to manufacture the floor, which consists of 350 4-by-7-foot panels.